Prelim final week. Should be a happy time and we all have our teams set for the end of the year… no, of course it can’t be that easy! We already knew we would have to combat the bye and of course our best mate General Soreness who usually pokes his ugly head in at this time of year. Now we have that old favourite “the stupid footballer” who goes and gets himself injured or suspended just when we need him most. I know one of these is on Warnie’s never again list and that is Colin Sylvia. On top of that we have Matthew Pavlich who is now gone for the year and with that we are also missing our Carlton Premiums. So we have a number of large holes in our teams that we need to plug. If you have the luxury of a trade or two I would suggest using them to make sure you get through to the GF, otherwise you need to sift through the dregs of your bench to find yourself some chocolate topping for your donuts!

Play em, they are the best of the bunch

I am going to through in a new name first up this week…. Jack Gunston from the Crows has had 4 good games from his last 5 with his only fail coming against the Cats. He has two 70’s and a 104 from his last 4. He sneaks forward and kicks a goal or two occasionally as well. For the 4005 that have him… well done, he will provide nice cover. Team mates Dan Talia and Andy Otten have been good value also with solid scores in the 60’s and 80’s. Both of them should score well against Richmond this week. Matthew Wright scored a red vest last week, I am not sure why, but it limited his great run of scoring. I think he should come back with a decent one this week.

Sam Sheldon from Brisbane has a good run of scores going with 79 73 and 85 over the last few. With a home game against the West Coast I hope he can come through again.

Rising Star nominee Alex Fasolo has been on a good run of late with his lowest being a 50 out of his last 5 which have all been unvested. On the Playground this week I am sure he will find himself in plenty of open space as will Andrew Krakouer who has dropped off in his scoring and was a late withdrawal last week.

Dyson Heppell continues to prove me wrong, just when I think he is struggling he plucks another great score and well done to him for not missing a game (apart from bye’s) all year. A credit to him and as he is up against my Power this week, unfortunately for me, he should rip out a big score like the rest of his teammates.

Zac Clarke has maintained his scoring even with Sandi back. His 129 on the weekend was his best for the year and his first ton (not getting into debate on spelling grammar or anything else like Chook had to!). If you are a bit thin in the ruck then playing him may be a good option. Tendai Mzungu has been a saviour for most of us lately and I know a few people have been playing him in front of some of their premiums! I predict a score of 90+ again for him this week and he should be your first picked Off the Bench.

Allen Christensen has been a find for the Cats and back at Skilled this week he should be able to demonstrate his value yet again! His form has been great and I reckon he should deliver another score of 80+.

Our Gold Coast Suns are finding out what the rigours of AFL footy are. However, many would be questioning why their second bye was in round 9! Our regular guys from the Gold Coast should be our regulars still with Danny Stanley, Dion Prestia and David Swallow all able to score well. However, as predicted here last week, David Swallow wore the green with pride on Saturday to give him a bit of a rest so he can get through the season. I think all these guys should be fairly safe bets against Melbourne as they all get their first game at the MCG.

Isaac Smith continued to show us why he should be almost a certainty for our sides each week with a 75 and teammate David Hale showed his worth with a 71. These two should have a day out against the Dogs. I think that Puopolo will recover from his 46 with a good score against the Dogs. He scored 99 against them earlier this year and I think he should be able to replicate that this week as the Dogs are playing for pride and the Hawks to keep their spot in 3rd rather than drop to 4th and have to play Collingwood.

Stefan Martin has maintained his consistency, however, it isn’t in the 90’s where it was earlier in the year but is in the 60’s now and against the Gold Coast this week I would expect 65 as a minimum for him.

Cam Pedersen finds himself on the bench but he should get a full game and he would be a very safe bet with 114 and I expect him to get a big job down back on either Rooey or Kosi. He should see a fair bit of the ball with these two guys leading him to it.

Matt Lobbe will again benefit from Brogan still out. He scored a nice 93 last week. Fellow ruckman Vickery has also come along in the last few weeks with an 83 in his last. Either of these two boys should do you well if you need to play them.

Keep the faith with Andrew Gaff I think he still has some good scores left in him. He struggled again last week with 57, but I think that he should do well this week against the Lions. With Kerr out, it may mean some more midfield time for Gaff which should elevate his scoring nicely.

Things are desperate if you need these guys to help you out!

For those that picked up Karnezis on my recommendations, sorry, but his scoring of late has been very poor. He followed his green vest in rd21 with a red one and 8 pts in round 22.

I hate to do it but Nick Lower can’t be trusted at the moment, with a 96, then 11 and then a week off who knows how he will rebound this week! Unfortunately I think there will be quite a few of us that have no choice but to play him!

Zac Smith is back this week, but given his recent form he is a very questionable proposition. Personally I wouldn’t rely on him unless I really needed to. I think the long season has caught up with him and it has showed in his scoring.

Luke Breust has gone back to his vested ways in the last two which worries me a bit that he may be running out of legs . Shane Savage returns this week, but I wouldn’t run the risk and I expect him to get the green vest in this first game back.

Jeremy Howe has been a popular pick this year, but after 2 points and a red vest on the weekend, don’t be surprised if he swaps his red for green this week. Don’t play him.

Keiren Harper is a risk if you ask me, so I wouldn’t play him unless you need to. he did have a 79 last week, but I don’t see a great deal of consistency in his scoring.

Tom Liberatore came good last week against the Power following up his previous 71 with a 97. I don’t expect him to be as free flowing this week but he should still be ok for a reasonable but not brilliant score.

Good luck to you all this week if you are still in your leagues, even if you are playing in the Tit-Ed Cup. Be wary about your selections as we may see some of our big guns who are a bit tired getting a vest if they are worn out. Catch you all this weekend on Twitter @pkd73

Defenders

Heppell

Stanley

Martin

Pedersen

Puopolo

Talia

Lower

Midfielders

Heppell

Christensen

I Smith

Mzungu

Krakouer

Swallow

Prestia

Gaff

Fasolo

Sheldon

Liberatore

Ruck

Hale

Lobbe

Clarke

Vickery

Forwards

I Smith

Mzungu

Hale

Prestia

Krakouer

Breust

Gunston

Lobbe

Harper

Talia

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Author: Dunny
Somehow we let a Port Adelaide supporter onto our team? Yeah, we know! But Dunny is the man! We love his column "The Friday Scramble" to get us set up for the weekend and he is one of our draft gurus! Follow: @pkd73.

I think your wrong on Smith. He has had a week off and the other important thing is that Fraser is out. Smith is averaging about 20 odd more points a game when Fraser doesn’t play (around 80pts) and that is not a bad score for your second ruck. So if you have others to cover with a trade, I would be covering them first.

I hear ya Molly, I am just a bit worried about the big Z, he is getting tired and yes with a week off and Fraser out he could do a bit better, but I am just worried about how he will come up. Another factor for me is the tiring Gold Coast team in general, with all of them dropping off a bit the scoring for all their players has been down (apart from Bock) so I just can’t see Z breaking the 60pt barrier (having said that he will now prove me wrong and come out and score about 90).

I do agree though, if you have other troublesome areas, trade there first and not big Z.

Could go Sylv into Mids and trade in Gram or someone who can dpp this week with Jacobs?
Save you money plus it’d get rid of a non player, also save scotland for next week.
Can you beat your opponent though?

Mind you I’d be looking to get in suckling because of his juicy run in the last two games. If he isn’t Sub or rested, you’d expect some massive scores considering Hawks wanna keep 3rd so they avoid Collingwood.

In a lot of trouble in my fwd line as I need Jeremy howe to play. Need to make up in my midfield. Who out of bartel and hodge noting that my opponent has bartel. Hodge scored 154 last time against the dogs bartel got 70 against the swans. I need an upset captain as he will have swan out of gablett, Thompson, dal santo and Boyd? Will waters get the vest again???

Hodge scored 150 against dogs last time, he will most likely lower that this week but you’d expect another high class performance with Hawks battling for that third spot for finals. Bartel only managed 70odd against Swans last time.

Quick question
Have one trade left and was contemplating trading montagna to daisy or shiels because never really sure what montagna will get!
Option 2 is bench him for Mzungu or krak who is named on the ball
Option 3 stick with Monty and hope he bangs out big score
Prem final will be close so any help be great
Cheers

Have the same fear! Monty is risky but rewards can be great. I use to think he only stood up against the weaker teams… E.g. 126 vs Lions, 151 vs Dees. But after that massive score against Collinwood I just can’t predict him.
But I’m sticking with him, 109 against Carlton(DTGF opponent) and 105 vs Roos (This week opponent)
He rebounds well though, that 109 vs Carlton came after a week of 70 against the crows, the 105 came after 45 vs Geelong and then the BYE.
He only scored 50 or so against the Swans last w/e so you’d expect him to turn it on this weekend. But it’s hard to decide!

So i’m still in my league and a pretty strong chance to make the grand final, although i’m playing no.1 he has Murphy, Gibs & Pavlich although he has trades, he will prop end up with Gibs riding the pine and the other two becoming sideways premos…

Who to play in the back line out of Lower & Puopolo, If Lower isn’t named Sub, then I’m leaning towards him as i am concerned that poop will be the sub….

Also I have to choose 2 to play in the forward line out of Petrie, NRoo, Gu & iSmith, Who would you pick, I’m leaning towards NRoo & iSmith with Petrie Emerg, and Gu Mids Emerg, but i am tossing up wether to swap Petrie and Roo and/or Gu and Smith. I need one of Gu or Smith to ride the pine as Emerg in the mids… Any help much appreciated!

Obviously major problem is in defence as I have no confidence in playing Golby given that he will struggle to pull me anything more than 55. WIth Sylvia gone I am quite happy to play Isaac Smith as 7th forward for last 2 with matchups against Dogs and GC. So not really sure on what to do with Col. I could downgrade and then upgrade hibberd but that wipes out all my trades. So I am thinking of one of the folllowing options.

1. Gibbs>Bock/Enright and could also go Sylvia-Cloke
2. Mzungu>Gram (as this saves me a trade for carnage next week, avoids playing Golby in defence through dpp plus the fact that Gu is not needed this week)
3. Sylvia>Doughy (same as above, however, not so sure about Doughty althogh it allows me to keep Gu)

What are peoples thoughts and are there any other options I could do??

2nd one I’d reckon mate. If you don’t need GU and you’re low on cash and trades, he’s perfect to get in a gun.
I wouldn’t trade out Gibbs because of the fact your opponent will have him next week. He could come back to bite you.
But it depends on how well you reckon you can do against your opponent this week?

Any concerns on I Smith? From memory he had some kind of issue during last week’s game (hamstring?) and also copped a knock in the second half. Looking at the Hawks line up, I’m concerned he might cop the green vest this week.

Need a bit of help this week (Pavgra and Sylv) I have 4 trades left, 70k and I’ve got the likes of Hale(300k) on the bench. That would allow me to up my final trade next week. This week thinking of going Lower (who will start with gibbs and duigan out) to Birchall? I don’t have Enright either tho? He’d be my 7th defender but would cover Heppel next week too.

On the other hand is the forward dilemma- Who to get in? Fyfe, Rioli, Lecras, DIDAK?? (traded him out earlier this season) Go for Johnson or ROK or Goodes?

Having a think about my last trade for the season. Pav has to come out, and I only have 4K in the bank, so I’m looking at a straight swap to either Cyril or ROK. I think Cyril will score more this week, and he could score a million next week against the Gold Coast, but I also think he is a fair chance of getting rested next week. ROK at Skilled will probably struggle, but I know he will play both games (injury/suspension barring), and he could score well next week against Brisbane.

I know I should, to borrow that oldest of cliches, “take it one week at a time” but with no trades in the bank I’m trying to hedge my bets so I’m not snookered by bringing in someone for 1 game.

Any thoughts? Maybe a roughie I haven’t considered (briefly considered LeCras or Josh Kennedy, but I think they are too erratic).

Cloke: 120+ this week, 80ish vs the Cats next week -good total scoring, but might cost you in the Rnd 24 GF.
Rioli would be great, but could he get a rest in the last 2 rounds?
LeCras: Who knows? Gut instinct says he safe for around 90’s…

Have you thought about Josh Kennedy? He tears up second rate defences, and I reckon he could outscore all the above options in the run home.

Hey guys. Could do with some help this week as I don’t have the strongest team but playing in prelims for bottom 8 and eager to finish on a high. 2 trades left and 38k. Need to trade Gibbs and Pav who are both dpp but currently in the centre to try and swap for as many points as possible.

Obviously major problem is in defence as I have no confidence in playing Golby given that he will struggle to pull me anything more than 55. WIth Sylvia gone I am quite happy to play Isaac Smith as 7th forward for last 2 with matchups against Dogs and GC. So not really sure on what to do with Col. I could downgrade and then upgrade hibberd but that wipes out all my trades. So I am thinking of one of the folllowing options.

1. Gibbs>Bock/Enright and could also go Sylvia-Cloke
2. Mzungu>Gram (as this saves me a trade for carnage next week, avoids playing Golby in defence through dpp plus the fact that Gu is not needed this week)
3. Sylvia>Doughy (same as above, however, not so sure about Doughty althogh it allows me to keep Gu)

Lobbe keeps getting ranked low, and he keeps performing well even in tough games except for two aborations (Saints and Showdown). I have to field one of either Lobbe or Prestia, at the moment leaning towards Lobbe I think. Prestia is starting to get some nice scores, but he was a big let down at staged earlier in the year.

I am still in the finals & travelling pretty well, still have 3 trades & $181k in the bank Team is as follows…am thinking of getting rid of Pav & Nicoski, but not sure who for any suggestions will be welcome

Obviously want to get Monfries on this week (playing against Port) but not sure who to relegate to Emergency out of Riewoldt and Petrie. Riewoldt looked very restricted last week but could still lift given the importance of the match for the Saints. Petrie’s been having more of his average (crap) games than god lately but could do well against the Saints defence.
Swaying towards benching Petrie atm but would love to hear anyone elses thoughts or opinions.